I explored and compared the Twitter feeds of the Library of Congress and the Digital Education Research Network (DERN).
The DERN profile describes them as “a network for leaders, researchers and educators interested in the use of digital technologies for learning.” This neatly sums up their target audience. I thought that they would have a more specialised, smaller audience than the Library of Congress. I was correct. DERN have 1800 followers, and the Library has 1.2 million.
I saw much more of a professional development atmosphere on the DERN feed. Most people posting, or being retweeted, were in the education field. Although posters on the Library of Congress are professionals, their posts are aimed at anyone interested in what they have to share. It would appeal to Librarians, Bibliophiles, Historians, and really anyone with an interest in American history, maps, photography, and books. As the largest library in the world, the Library of Congress have a wealth of information to share.
Posts on the Library of Congress Twitter feed often followed themes, such as “Today in History”, “Behind the Scenes”, or famous authors’ birthdays. They were also often about event – both professional events, and those being held at the Library.
The DERN feed contained a lot of retweets, but they were all related to their field and would have been interesting and beneficial for their followers. They were generally about relevant articles, research, and conferences.
I noticed that DERN, in recent years, might go a couple of months in between posting, and then retweet a few times in a day. There had been no posts on the page since November 2021. I was surprised, because up until then their feed, if not as regular, was of high quality. I looked on the DERN website, and it turns out that they are now managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It makes sense that they would consolidate their social media, but I’m surprised that there was no “pinned” post or announcement on either feed to guide users. There was only the ACER link at the top of the profile.
Perhaps because of their more specialised content, DERN posts had very few likes – usually under twenty in total. Views of Library of Congress posts are regularly in the tens of thousands, but one very popular one about a cat in a hat had 3.2 million views. And 54 thousand likes. It shows how highly successful they are at sharing information.
Finally, both Twitter feeds were very aesthetically appealing, mostly through the use of interesting images.